Strange and stranger still
by sabina.chaudri
Summary: One-shot: All the children at the orphanage call Juvia strange, and she wonders what to make of that. Little Juvia turns for help towards her imaginary friend that always seems to know all the right answers.


**Strange and stranger still.**

She was barely six years old, holding a neatly knitted teru teru bozu plush doll while sitting on the floor. When she sat very still, she herself looked like one of those collectable porcelain dolls. If someone had a doll that looked like little Juvia, they'd probably keep her behind thick glass and show her off to their guests, telling proudly a story about how they went through great lengths and outbid several tenacious rivals in order to acquire such a rare looking beauty.

Here, in the orphanage that Juvia tried calling "home" several times, however, she was no beauty. Her skin was pale and thick, her hair was blue and curly, and her eyes were big and full of wonder. She was rather an unusual looking child, especially to the other children, who didn't wait long to call her strange.

Wondrous eyes that were ready to understand the world no one was willing to teach. The teachers all thought she was strange as well. Looking out the window, they believed that the constantly pouring rain presaged a bad omen connected with the little girl, and hence tried to limit their interaction to none.

And so Juvia very casually and ever so naturally started teaching herself the mysteries of the world. She would talk to a beautiful lady with bright blue eyes that no one saw except for her. That lady was tall, compared to her, about twenty years old, with hair just like hers, and her name was also Juvia!

This Lady-Juvia was always beside the little girl and she helped her answer difficult questions. She explained what was right and what was wrong, and together they'd discover which things were dangerous and which were safe.

Just a minute ago she was watching little Juvia brush her teeth and reminded her to brush the backside as well.

When three other children came into the common bathroom they heard little Juvia standing in front of the sink:

"Don't forget the canines, Juvia" – she said.

One of the three raised an eyebrow, while looking at the other two, and with a hungry smirk turned to Juvia:

"Are you talking to yourself?"- he said amusingly.

"Maybe she's gone mad", - the other one inferred.

"She's really strange," – a tiny voice echoed through the bathroom.

"Strange indeed," – the first one said and approached the sink.

"Hey, you're the girl that always makes it rain, right? It's your fault, isn't it?"

Juvia continued to brush her teeth and looked in the mirror at the tall Lady-Juvia standing behind her, holding her finger to her teeth.

"Juvia must also remember about the far teeth," – little Juvia said, ignoring the boy, who didn't seem to take it very well.

"Well, if you like water so much, how about this!"

The boy held his finger to the running current and the water immediately splashed and soaked her clothes. The boy ran back to his friends, all three of them facing Juvia while trying to get behind one another, laughing, baring their little pointy teeth. They stood there waiting to see what would happen next.

Juvia clenched her fists and squeezed her lips, trying hard not to puff her cheeks. The water pipes around the bathroom started to rattle, the faucets shook and the water in the toilet pots stirred. The other children started to woo, cheer and made frightened sounds, and laughed even harder. Juvia looked at the lady in the mirror again, and slowly unclenched her fists.

"Juvia," – the lady spoke – "has to rinse her mouth now. Take some water into your hands…"

"Then Juvia has to put it in her mouth, rinse and spit," – little Juvia finished and resumed her washing.

"She is so strange," – the boy said and the other hummed in agreement as they all turned around and left, becoming bored with her lack of reaction.

Little Juvia had just finished drying her clothes and was now sitting on the floor with her newly made doll. Lady-Juvia was sitting beside her and watched her play.

"The children…call Juvia strange," – the little girl began, - "is that a bad thing?"

"What do you think?" – Lady-Juvia replied.

"Hm..." – little Juvia bit her lip, then raised and dropped her shoulders with a breath as she began to think out loud, - "Mina-chan has given both her hands names and pretends they are puppets...," – she started, -"Juvia thinks that's strange… Yumi-kun tells horrible jokes, and always puts one leg on the table or chair when doing that... Juvia thinks that's strange too. Kimi-chan puts salt on everything she eats, even on sweets... Juvia has never seen anyone else do that, so..," – she paused and raised her eyes to the lady in front of her, -"Juvia thinks that's strange as well... Everyone is strange really," – she concluded and turned back to her doll.

"And what does that mean?" – Lady-Juvia encouraged.

"Hm... If everyone is strange, and no one is normal...", - she trailed slowly, picking up her teru teru bozu and turning it in her hands, - "then being strange is normal. So if someone says you're strange, what they're really saying is that you're normal...so you shouldn't take offence at all!" –she smiled at Lady-Juvia and she smiled back.

"Being strange is normal. It's what makes you normal," –Lady-Juvia said, - "Being strange means being...

"Human...," – said little Juvia and stilled her movements for a second, with her head raised up. She gave the thought another brief moment to settle, sitting motionless and gazing somewhere far away in front of her.

She then smiled lightly and turned to Lady-Juvia with another question:

"What's a friend? Does Juvia have one?"- she asked.

Lady-Juvia opened her mouth and started slowly, carefully choosing her words:

"When you have a friend, you will know," – she smiled gently.

"That's a strange thing to say," – little Juvia replied, and they both laughed.

"One day Juvia hopes to have lots of friends," – the little girl said –"And..."

"And?"- Lady-Juvia prompted.

Little Juvia turned to the lady, eyes full of excitement, and gave her a big smile:

"And she hopes all of them will be very very strange!"

They both laughed and Lady-Juvia smiled a knowing smile, vaguely painting in her own head the picture of a tall mighty building, with its unique emblem, and members of a big family, every single one being truly very-very strange, standing in front of it. Lady-Juvia seemed to have been lost in thought, when little Juvia called for her attention again and asked what she was smiling about. However, Lady-Juvia did not satisfy the little girl's curiosity, but simply told her to put her toys back into their respective places and get ready for bed.

"One day... when Juvia has lots of friends, will everyone else think that we are all strange?"- she asked, while tucking herself in.

"Most likely. But you will all be very happy."

"Is it because we'll all be strange together?", - she asked and closed her eyes.

Lady-Juvia smiled once more, feeling warmth surround her heart:

"Yes. You will all be so very strange, and so very happy. And people will look at you and think that it's strange that you are all so strange..."

"Even though those people are probably strange themselves?"

"That's right,"- Lady-Juvia nodded.

"That would be rather strange," - the little girl mumbled half-asleep.

"Strange indeed," - she smiled sweetly and kissed the girl good night.


End file.
